Rington



NTTE STATES PATENT Brion.

ALBERT BAILEY CARRINGTON, o nEw YORK, N. Y.; ELIZABETH CARRINGTONADMINISTRATRIX or SAID ALBERT BAILEY CAR- RINGTON, DECEASED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609,009, dated August16, 1898.

Application filed November 24, 1896. Serial No. 613,336. (No model.) 7

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT BAILEY GAE- RINGTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inOptical-Illusion Cabinets, of which the fol-- lowing is a full andcomplete specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to amusement devices, and has for its object toprovide a cabinet adapted for optical illusion, through the medium ofwhich objects may be caused to ap: pear and disappear before the gaze ofthe spectator.

In the drawing forming a portion of this specification I have shown avertical section of my device.

Referring now to the drawing, in operating in accordance with myinvention 1 form a casing comprising a top A and a bottom B, said casinghaving also a front and a back. The casing is divided midway of itsheight by a horizontal partition F, extending from the rear D half-waythrough the casing in the direction of the front E, so that the frontedge of this partition or stage F lies in the center of the casing, theupper half of the front of the casing being open, so that normally anyobject on the stage F can be seen through the front E.

Extending from the front edge of the partition or stage F downwardly ina vertical plane is a second partition G, resulting in the formation ofa compartment K, occupying the lower front quarter of the casing.

Extending from the upper front edge of the casing and rearwardly at anangle of fortyfive degrees to the front edge of the partition F is aheavy glass M for a purpose as will be readily explained, said glassbeing held in place by a molding M, arranged at either side thereof,duplicate moldings L and L being arranged in front and back of the glassM, as shown, the glass M, as will be readily seen, lying at an angleabove the chamber K and at an equal angle in front of the chamber II,which lies above the partition F.

In order to illuminate the chamber K, I ar range lights S at the frontand rear upper edges thereof, which lights are covered by a screen 0, soarranged as to throw all rays downwardly into the said chamber. A secondseries of lights T is arranged at the front edge of the chamber H, ascreen N being arranged with respect to the said lights so as to throwall of their rays rearwardly into the said chamber, the walls of bothchambers being black.

It will be observed that the shields O in the chamber K and the shieldsN in the chamber H have the same relative position with refersuchobjects in the chamber H. Under ordinary circumstances the presence ofthe moldings M would suggest to the spectator that something wasarranged in the casing, and to overcome this impression the duplicatemoldings L and L are arranged so as to appear that they are merelyornamentations. The lights T being now extinguished and the lights Sbeing turned on, the glass M will act as a reflector, and the spectatorwill see only such objects as maybe within the chamber K. Thus bygradually turning on one set of lights and extinguishing the other theobjects in one chamber may be caused to appear to merge into the objectsof the other, it appearing to the spectator that everything is in theupper half of the casing and directly in front.

Having thus described'my invention, what I claim isv 1. In anoptical-illusioncabinet, two chambers in different horizontal planes,one of which is concealed from view, and the other being in the rearthereof, whereby a space is left in said cabinet which is equal in sizeto either of said chambers, and which is in the line of vision; aplate-glass mounted diagonally of said space, and held in position bymoldings secured to the walls forming the sides of said cabinet; and aplurality of strips of moldings arranged on said walls parallel withsaid glass and on both sides thereof, and means to transform said glassinto a reflector, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In an optical-illusion cabinet, two chambers in different horizontalplanes, one of which is concealed from view, and the other being in therear thereof, whereby a space is left in said cabinet which is equal insize to either of said chambers, and which is. in the line of vision; aplate-glass mounted diagonally of said space, and held in position bymoldings secured to the walls forming the sides of said cabinet; aplurality of strips of moldings arranged on said Walls parallel withsaid glass, and on both sides thereof; shields mounted in each of saidchambers at an angle of forty-five degrees to said glass, and aplurality of lights behind each of said shields, substantially as andfor the purpose described.

3. The hereindescribed optical-illusion cabinet, comprising a top A,bottom B, front 0, and back D, said front being open at E; a floor F,connected with the bottom B, by a partition G, whereby two similarcompartments H, and K, and a space, are formed, said space beingprovided with a plate-glass M, which is held at an angle of forty-fivedegrees to a horizontal plane, said cabinet being provided with shieldsN, and O, which form similar angles with the said plate-glass, andmoldings L and L, which are parallel with said glass, and a plurality oflights S, and T, which are placed in the rear of said shields,substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of the subscribing Witnesses, this 13th day ofNovember, 1896.

ALBERT BAILEY OARRINGTON.

Vi tn esses:

CHARLES S. Roonns, N. J. SUNEsoN.

